Read Online Suck It Up and Die by Brian Meehl - Free Book Online

as he watched Portia being swept along by the parade. He turned back to Becky-Dell. “I apologize for what they did. We’re not supposed to frighten people. Leaguers are law-abiding—”
    “I know what you are,” she growled. “And I won’t stop till you’re all back in the ground, where the dead belong.”
    “But, Ms. Wallace, we were never dead.”
    “You will be when I’m done with you!”
    Two MOPers rushed into the flow of paraders and rescued Becky-Dell from the vampire who had started it all.
    Morning watched the thinning parade move past him. A ringtone sounded in his pocket. It was John Lennon singing “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” Morning pulled out his cell and answered it. “Hey.”
    “Are you coming or not?” Portia asked.
    “I was hoping you’d circle back. Right now, all I want is to give you your Out Day card and a present.”
    “We can do it tonight,” she said. “
Right now
, Cody and I gotta cover whatever else happens.”
    He sighed. “I’m sorry for what I said about your mom.”
    “It’s okay, Morn. I know you didn’t mean it.”
    His chest collapsed with a sigh of relief. “You know I love you.”
    “I know. Back atcha. Gotta go.”
    He hung up. The parade had been a disaster, but he was done with it and Portia still loved him.… Okay, it was “back atcha” love, which was better than nothing.
    A pedicab raced toward him. Zoë glided to a stop. “I can’t believe I missed the fireworks!”
    “You’ll be able to catch ’em on the news tonight. What happened to your badass vampire?”
    “Wasn’t badass, wasn’t a vampire, so I gave him a refund and promised him a rain check.”
    Morning looked toward the retreating parade. “You better get going if you wanna catch it. Who knows what fireworks Rachel will set off next.”
    Zoë studied him. He looked like the parade had marched right over him. “Nah,” she said, “I’d rather give the most good-ass vampire in the world a ride home.”
    On the ride downtown, Morning told Zoë everything that had happened, including his attack of
wordus eruptus
with Portia. When he told her how Rachel’s group CD and MOPer terrorization would only turn more Lifers against Leaguers, Zoë disagreed. “I don’t think you get it.”
    “Get what?”
    “There’s millions of Lifers who still want vampires, even if they’re Leaguers, to be a little badass. A lot of us get turned on by the danger of it—from just reading about it to the crazy ones like me who wanna get turned. Then there’s the in-betweens who just wanna experience the ecstasy of exsanguination.”
    “The what?”
    “The ecstasy of exsanguination,” Zoë repeated. “That’s what they call it.”
    Morning shook his head in dismay and fell silent.
    Zoë turned the pedicab onto his street and looked back. “I’ve always wanted to ask, A.M. When you got turned, was it all bad?”
    Shuddering at the memory, he lied. “I don’t remember.”
    She chuckled. “Like I believe that. The point is, from what I saw of the parade on TV, there were a ton of vampire wannabes and wanna-bleeds, right?”
    “Yeah, it was gross.”
    “Gross or not, there’s secret underground clubs in the city that cater to consensual bloodlusters.”
    “That’s urban legend.”
    “What if it isn’t?”
    “Oh, right, like you’ve been to one.” Zoë silently coasted to a stop in front of St. Giles. “Have you?” he asked.
    She flashed a big smile. “Ride’s over. Catch ya later, good-ass.”
    As she rode away, Morning’s head was filled with the racket of cross-talking thoughts. He had to clear it. There was one place where he did his best head-clearing: the middle of the Williamsburg Bridge.

15

Williamsburg Bridge
    Morning started across the walkway–bike path that arched through the bridge like a spine. He stripped off his blue probie shirt and got down to his white tee to be less conspicuous. Luckily, the walkway was almost empty.
    He stopped halfway across